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ABOUT THIS PICTURE ...

THIS IS an artist’s reconstruction of an incident in early Florida history.  Following the Revolution, the area along the Southern Georgia/Northem Florida border became a restless “no man’s land” harboring hostile Indians (Creeks), runaway black slaves, disaffected Colonials and renegade Europeans... Complaints grew in Congress to secure the region for the benefit of those trying to peacefully settle there.  Accordingly, the Federal government began to “pressure” the outlaw groups ...

This however, drove them together and thus was born the so-called “Seminole Indian Tribe”. (Seminole comes from a Creek word for “wanderer”).  And wander they did: ever further south into the Florida peninsula - then relatively devoid of any “Native Persons”. (Spain had removed the last native Indians which had once included Tequestas, Calusas, etc. - to Havana - when she ceded the state to the U.S.). Thus the invasion of Seminoles was uncontested.

In turn, these “Seminoles” , an amalgam of Indians, blacks, and whites, with their mixed second generation offspring, now began to harass the few Anglo and remaining Spanish settlers in North Florida and along the Southeastern coast.  In 1825, the Federal Government constructed a Lighthouse at the tip of Cape Florida (end of Key Biscayne at Miami, or Fort Dallas as it was then known).  As history records, matters came to open hostility with the Seminoles resulting in three “wars” against them.  During the Second Seminole War, all the whites then resident on the remote southern coast of Florida fled the region, many seeking refuge at Key West.

Left alone was John Thompson, Asst. Lighthouse Keeper, and his black helper (thought by some historians to have been his slave).  They had agreed to keep the Light operational as an aid to shipping.  Cape Florida marks the upper end of the Keys and serves as a warning to mariners of the many shoals and reefs that lie offshore.  As an aside, it is recorded that the Light was a “snare and delusion” during its early operational days; at 65 feet, the Light was not clearly visible at sea till ships were already among the dangerous shoals and may actually have lured many a shipmaster to his doom...
On July 23, 1836, a band of armed Seminoles attacked the Lighthouse. Thompson and the Black barricaded themselves inside the tower’s base and returned the Indians’ rifle fire.  The Indians then set fire to the ground-level wooden door.  The fire raged, fed in part by stored oil for the Light, and forced the two defenders to climb to the top of the structure.  Thompson was shot six times - three times in each foot! - and his partner too, was wounded and later died.  Fortuitously, Thompson had carried a small keg of gun powder (black powder) up the stairway with him, and at this juncture hurled the keg into the flames below.  The resultant explosion brought down the remaining stairs, thus marooning the two men at the top.  It also largely extinguished the fire, and the Seminoles left off their attack and withdrew.
In agony, Thompson and his man lay in the broiling sun on the narrow iron ledge around the outer perimeter of the light.  The next day Thompson was rescued by the crew of a Navy schooner lying some twelve miles offshore, who had heard the explosion the day before. (They fired light lines tied to their ramrods over the tower in order to get a rope up to Thompson ... ).

Thus ended one of the more bizarre incidents in the history of a rather bizarre state.  The Lighthouse was later raised to 95 feet (1855), but was still criticized as inadequate by mariners... During the Civil War, Confederates extinguished the Light.  In July 1978, it was reactivated by the U.S. Coast Guard.  In 1993, Hurricane Andrew passed directly over the area, devastating large tracts of the native countryside.  The tower stood, and is currently being revamped as a historic site.

The original painting is a very large oil done by local artist Ken Hughs, who has painted a number of historic Florida events.  It now belongs to the Historical Assn. of Southern Florida.  I was greatly impressed by this oil though I can’t remember where I first saw it. (Surprisingly, it is little reproduced in publications that I have checked ... ). I did have a “private showing” (at my request) of the original where it hangs in downtown Miami, and the curators there obtained a laser print for me to work from for my watercolor. 
To me - this picture says “Florida!” out loud.  The artist not only catches the “flavor” of outdoors Florida - note his details of the Brown Pelican flying overhead, the Monarch butterfly, the grasshopper - the very lizard on the beach! - and the clearly identifiable and botanically correct renditions of Sea Grapes, Palmettos, and other native flora - but he would (presumeably) be equally accurate in his details of the maurauding Indians.

At first, I had some misgivings about these latter depictions.  Mostly, Seminoles are portrayed in historic documents as clad in colorful white man’s garb - including calico shirts and (notably) turbans.  Hughs’ Indians have much more the “look” of Eastern Woodlands warriors farther to the north.  But he has done a colorful, masterful job of portraying them and this suggests to me, along with his obvious care as to the smallest detail, that he did indeed do his homework on this matter.  Thinking on it, it is known the Seminoles - as to their Indian makeup - derived from the Creeks, more specifically I believe from the Lower Creeks, so-called.  It seems this might explain the roached hairdos seen on several of the warriors.  The triangular breechclouts also seem correct as to details: showing a preference for triangular designs and bands of triangles, etc. (See also the knee and leg bands ... ).

Similarly also for the “warpaint” decorations: I have assumed authenticity here as there exists much less documentation on this subject.  Note the reddened hands: these seem valid.  And (careless) streaks and daubs on legs, etc. of red paint: the color of war. Indeed, I believe it was the Creeks who had the social custom of the red-and-black sticks (“Baton Rouge” - as in the Louisiana city of that name) they exchanged among their villages as signs of war and peace... Note the prominent figure in the foreground: there are various shadow streaks, muscle folds, etc. visible on his body but one black streak in particular stands out (at least in Hughs’ painting).  That is a dark, black streak running down the right side of his chest and on down the front side of his right leg: this is almost certainly an applied decoration, and not a shadow, I believe. (Many details in this painting bear viewing with a magnifying glass ... ).

The distinctive hair braids shown on several of the attackers may also stem from their Creek ancestry and associates.  The dusky skins and (possibly) negroid features would also not seem out of place - given the admixture of black genes known among the Seminole Nation at large...  Note the tiger-stripe maple stock on the rifle of the leftmost warrior, and the patchbox in the stock on his and other pieces; also the cheekpiece of the stock on the rifle carried by the warrior running at full tilt in the mid foreground.  All these are very authentic little details, and I can verify many of them personally from my archeological background and interests, and my actual participation for some years in “Mountain Man” style living-history creations... (And, I might add, having made my own duplicate patchboxes for rifle recreations into the bargain!) 
 Thompson is seen running toward the Lighthouse door in the middle ground of the picture; he is giving the alarm to his Black, who has just emerged from the dwelling. Far to the right, toward the ocean (the picture is correctly oriented as I have verified from a modem aerial shot which clearly shows the tower and the orientation of the door, can be seen a figure in a red stocking cap (or bandana - possibly a Tucque perhaps - as worn by contemporary backwoodsmen of French affiliation).  He is wearing a heavier garment than his colleagues and in Hughs’ illustration it is not too clear what he is doing.  I have taken the liberty of suggesting he is using a ramrod to reload his rifle (out of sight).  My point here is to suggest he might even be one of the “leaders” of the group - possibly a renegade white - which might explain the Tucque and the more tailored cape he is wearing.

A word as to the Light: what is shown (and I have copied Hughs here faithfully) is the effect of a sunburst or sun-glare off the glass which encloses the Light.  It is not that the Light is “on” in broad daylight (!) - nor is this anything to do with the explosion of the gunpowder... This is noted since some viewers raise this question.

I took great enjoyment in making this copy - in a different medium: watercolors -and felt that it would be an ideal illustration to hang in a Florida home. 

BWP
 

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